So I have mentioned the Aberdeenshire Autumn Rover briefly in other posts that I have written this month, the reason being that this ticket formed the basis of my September Staycation plans.

The ticket has been conjured out of the imaginations of some of Aberdeenshire’s biggest tourist attractions with the aim of drawing extra visitors in during their quieter spells. They ran a similar scheme in the Spring, but with less places involved.

So I thought I would give you a quick run down of the Aberdeenshire Autumn Rover while you still have a chance to get your hands on one!

WHAT IS IT?

The Aberdeenshire Autumn Rover gives you entry to up to four tourist attractions for the price of one – simple.

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?

The cost of the ticket is effectively free alongside your entry to the first of the attractions you visit, so for example my entry to the first place was £8.80 so that is how much is cost me. A quick research shows that the adult ticket prices vary between about £8-10, so there’s really not much in it!  Once you have paid for the first one and been given your ticket, you don’t need to pay anything else!

WHEN IS THE SCHEME RUNNING?

It launched on September 3 and the tickets are valid until October 14.

WHERE CAN I VISIT?

The 8 attractions taking part in the 2018 Autumn Rover are:

• Macduff Marine Aquarium, Macduff
• Museum Of Scottish Lighthouses, Fraserburgh
• Aberdeen Science Centre, Aberdeen
• Gordon Highlanders Museum, Aberdeen
• Fyvie Castle, Fyvie
• Lochnagar Distillery, Ballater
• Braemar Castle, Braemar
• Grampian Transport Museum, Alford

IS IT ONLY ADULT TICKETS?

Nope! The tickets are available in adult, concession and family – just pay the price of a normal adult, concession or family pass depending on which one you get!

IS THERE A CATCH?

Each venue only has 1000 tickets in a combination of the 3 kinds, so you could potentially turn up hoping to get one to find out that they are all gone I’m afraid.

IS IT WORTH IT?

Please send me examples of when something free is not worth the money in the comments below. Even if you’re only inspired to visit one extra place as a result of buying the ticket you’re already better off. As I had a week off work I was able to visit all four so it was definitely worth it for me, but since it’s free I struggle to see how it couldn’t be worth it. Even if you don’t use it you haven’t lost any money!

ANY OTHER ADVICE

Having covered Fraserburgh, Alford, Braemar and Fyvie I think that there is probably a more strategic way of covering the attractions. I would say probably the idea would be to do the two in Aberdeen plus Braemar and Lochnagar or to do Macduff, Fraserburgh, Fyvie and Alford depending on where you are located. For me – who lives between Macduff and Fyvie – it was a long drive to and from Braemar and I probably should have planned it better (I was also a bit poorly that day which didn’t help!)